A while back you may remember me talking about how my thai yellow soup came into being. This is the very recipe where that chilli mishap occurred. You see, my beloved Elly is not a big fan of “spicy” food so I was trying to create a thai curry that she would at least like, so I could have a curry more often without feeling guilty that I was torturing her.

Honestly it had nothing to do with me wanting to slowly increase her tolerance for spicy food

On that fateful day the particular green chili I had decided to use was (unknown to me) not terribly hot and as I was cooking with Elly in mind I also removed the seeds. Since that incident I now cut a tiny amount of chilli off the end and touch my tongue with it to get an idea of heat. If I don’t feel a burn I use the seeds in the dish.

But that’s just me – I’ve known people who put lots more chilli in their cooking than I do, it’s all down to personal taste so it’s always a good idea to experiment with the strength and amount of chilli in a curry if it’s not to your liking.

To make the curry paste, roughly chop the ingredients and add everything except the coconut milk to your blender. Give them a few pulses to break it down a little. You are looking for a this to become a thick but smooth paste, so add the coconut milk a little at a time and try to blend. As soon as it starts to turn into a paste stop adding coconut milk and blend to a smooth paste.

Now you have your curry paste, you can store this for a day or two in an airtight container in the fridge. Or you can use it fresh, which is always my preference. It’s nice to know that you could make this up in advance if you were going to be a little pushed for time.

and the rest

Next, you’ll want to heat a frying pan over a medium to high heat and when it is up to temperature add a little oil and then your paste. You just want to release the aromatics from it so don’t wait too long (about a minute) before adding the rest of the onions and allowing them to soften a little (about 5 minutes). Add the diced chicken and stir fry until sealed (about 5 minutes).

Now increase the heat under your pan and add the coconut milk, diced peppers and the kaffir lime leaves. As soon as the mixture begins to boil, reduce to a simmer for about 20 – 25 minutes and serve on a bed of pilaf rice.

Remember the lime zest and juice I said to save? Well, here’s a great way to use it up and add a real subtle zing and punch to this dish. When making the rice pilaf, add the lime zest and juice instead of the turmeric and cook as normal. Hey presto, zingy rice!

First, we peel the tomatoes using the “blanch and refresh” method. Get a large saucepan of water on and bring to the boil. While you are waiting get a large bowl and fill it with cold or ice water. Using a very sharp knife or even a razor blade cut a small X in the bottom of each tomato, you only want to cut the skin, that’s all. Once the water is boiling add the tomatoes for no more than a minute, then remove them and plunge them into the cold/ice water, this should make them very easy to peel, then chop them into about 1 cm dice.

Slice the onion and finely chop the garlic, cut the peppers into slices about 2 – 3 cm long.

Add the olive oil, onions, garlic and peppers to a large thick bottomed cooking pot. Cover to keep in the moisture and cook over a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring frequently and adding olive oil as necessary to prevent burning.

Now add the herbs de provence and peeled tomatoes, stir well and cook for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Chop the Aubergine and courgettes into a large dice (2cm) and add them to the pot. Cook for another 25 minutes, season to taste with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.

I love couscous, but the preparation can be messy. Superquinn stocks Roma Boil in the Bag Couscous which simply requires it to be boiled for 1 minute, then snip open the bag and pour out. It really is the easy option.

The recipe is so simple here – just chop up the celery, pepper & tomatoes really small and place in a bowl. Using a kitchen scissors, cut the parsley (stalks and all) into teeny chunks directly into the bowl. Also toss in the sweetcorn and raisins.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, then add in the baby broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes and frozen peas. Boil these for 2 mins, then throw in the bags of couscous. After 1 minute, drain off the water and carefully snip open the bags, pouring the couscous into the bowl, mixing it in immediately.

Slice up the cooked baby broccoli and sun-dried tomatoes (briefly boiling them allows them to re-hydrate slightly) and place these in the bowl along with the cooked peas.

Finally add approx 1 tablespoon olive oil, the chilli powder and dried herbs and stir everything together until well mixed.

This couscous can be eaten on it’s own, or mixed with some protein – try diced prawns & crab sticks; leftover roast chicken; or even flaked roast salmon. I like to make up a batch of this on the weekend and grab a bowlful each day for lunch, with a different topping each time.

If you don’t like any of the vegetables in the recipe, then you can leave them out, but I’d highly recommend replacing them with something you prefer – you could try diced onion, spring onions, roast sweet potato, broccoli or alfalfa shoots or asparagus.